Volvo confirmed that it had built at least one battery electric version of the C30 coupe, but said a decision on putting the car into series production won’t be made until the fall or winter.
Last week, I reported that Volvo was considering an all-electric C30. On Monday, Autocar reported that Volvo will show a plug-in C30 coupe, with at least a visual resemblance to the ReCharge plug-in hybrid concept vehicle, at its Innovation for Life event held shortly after the Frankfurt auto show in mid-September.
ReCharge was unveiled in Frankfurt two years ago, with wheel motors at all four corners and 62 miles of electric range. Versions were shown with both flex-fuel and diesel engines. Volvo has said it will produce a production plug-in hybrid by 2012, and a company spokesman, Daniel Johnston, said it would be introduced first in Europe “and then later in the U.S.”
The Volvo ReCharge plug-in hybrid concept.The wheel motors did not make it into the electric C30, Mr. Johnston said, and they may not be part of the production plug-in hybrid, either. “There are technical issues,” he said. “It may be too early to put them into production. They’re not happy with the performance.”
Mr. Johnston said the battery C30 will have about 130 miles of range (more than the newly unveiled Nissan Leaf, a potential competitor) and could be part of a 100-vehicle test fleet if plans were approved.
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25 Comments
The Recharge concept was fairly ambitious and might be one of those technologies that was too new to gain widespread acceptance.
As a current C30 owner, I’d love to see an all-electric or hybrid version make it to the US. I’d gladly trade mine for one. 130 mile range is plenty for me.
— EricHybrid version–yes.
All electric version–no.
— Capt. ConcernicusWhy are car manufacturers still making gas cars?
— zengirlGo Volvo - safety and GREEN.
A formula you can’t beat.
We need a C30 Diesel in the US before we need a hybrid or all electric version.
— Bart ReadWhy are car manufacturers still making gas cars?
Because all-electric vehicles are still unproven and impracticle and the cost-benefit of hybrids just isn’t there at current gas prices.
— TSMWhy am I feeling uncomfortable about the Volt? The great advance in electric cars will get 40 miles on a charge. Yet I see the Tesla, Nisson Leaf, and now the C30 exceed or will exceed 100 miles to the charge. Am I missing something or is GM already behind?
— Toby ChapmanAs much as a hybrid and/or plug-in C30 is nice; Volvo would do a lot better if they offered a slick turbo-diesel version with AWD. Or maybe a R-version with the drivetrain from the Ford Focus RS.
Volvo also overall needs a brand face-lift. As a former Volvo owner, from a Volvo family, I’ve not liked most of the recent Volvo designs, especially the grilles. The ‘cap’ on the front, with the awkward cut-lines is awful. It looks haphazard and unfinished. Plus, to be honest, Volvo isn’t even competitive with VW as far as features and interior fit and finish; yet they try to sell as a premium (Audi-level) product. Their value equation is WAY off. Sorry.
— Larryif all cars run only on electricity, where is all this electricity going to come from? especially during the summer when there are brown outs now with people using more electricity for their AC. and, where do people go to get electricity if they don’t have their own garage? i haven’t seen any articles about this. so for the near future, a hybrid still makes more sense, as it doesn’t need to be plugged in and/or charged.
— ny car guyElectric cars are an interesting option for some people. Hybrids more so because they are more flexible in range.
But if the idea is to save the world or preserve a good quality of life for humans, then the discussion must be about how we can maintain a sustainable number of people living on the planet in the long term.
The laws of physics, chemistry and thermodynamics that we must cope as organisms on Earth give us a pretty firm baseline in terms of what will work into the future. Human ingenuity and perseverance in searching for gains in energy efficiency is fussing with those numbers a bit, but long term, our numbers will have to be in sync with what our environment can provide.
— MattMath counts:
Add 30-33% more for purchase, subtract 90% less for gasoline, include 30-50 dollars a month extra for electricity off hours — unless demand makes that soar, take account of a 10 year battery that costs as much as 4-to-14,000 dollars to replace. In that scenario, which seems likely, $10 gasoline and 20,000 miles driven per year makes X plug-in car a good deal following trading in a 20 mpg car. Trading in a 30 mpg car makes 30,000 miles/yr. the break-even point unless gasoline is $15 a gallon or higher. (Factored in: reported purchase rebates and current car-life of 14 years).
With less driving per year, higher cost of purchase is more important. $45000 less 7000 rebate leaves a monthly payment 33% more than that for a 2009 Camry 4. That is in many cases about 200 dollars a month more fixed costs for 3-4 years, though much less if you trade down.
Paradise comes with a price, several. At $10 a gallon for gas, power utilities will charge 150% more for their coal-oil-etc. kilowatts. Power costs track gas prices — AND increased used demand, even off-hour!. $50 a month for power quickly becomes $125 or more… forever.
And who will buy a 9 year old plug-in? Still, even if we shoot the beast after 10 years, $10/gal. makes trading a 20 mpg car a sound move for any heavy driver. In fact, for gas-guzzler-owners and cabbies at lower gas prices. For me, since I drive 6000 miles/yr at 35 mpg., my car is cheaper to own until $35/gallon gas. GM and Nissan are timely — the end of the recession will surely see gas heading up to 5-10 dollars in 10 years.. GM timely — how refreshing.
— dr.bob solomonToby Chapman: GM said today that the Volt has a total range of 300 miles (40 on pure electric, the rest from the gas motor recharging the battery.)
ny car guy: there’s plenty of electric power generation potential, it’s just poorly managed (i.e. not having smart meters). Electricity usage is very seasonal with summer being the highest. Take July usage in 2008 as a rough approximation of total capacity. There were 8 other months in 2008 where total electricity usage was >15% less than in July. That’s a lot of excess capacity just sitting around! Not to mention that most electric car recharges would occur at night, when usage is less compared to the daytime.
— mlbWe need PLUG-IN HYBRIDS not all-electrics which simply aren’t ready for prime-time yet.
Plug-in hybrids give us economy, flexibility, unlimited range, the best of both worlds. Yet to date there isn’t a SINGLE ONE available in the US market. The closest thing we have are aftermarket variations on the Prius, which doubtless void the mfr warranty.
The technology is here now. The cars, unfortunately, aren’t.
— Professor GriffIn 1971 the full concept of a hybred engine came to me and I wrote it down with all improvements.I never did anything with it as didn’t have the funds to patent it and obtain an engineer,etc.I knew it was coming someday.
— H.DavisNow all thes car companies have to do is make one for a retired person on a fixed income to buy. $25,000 to $40,000 Thousand is quite alot of money even with a tax credit. I would like to have one but not at that price.
— b1rd000Atten: Jim Motavalli. Re: Your column on autos dated 08-11-”09..
— Kenneth B. SmithThe wise money is betting on the Prius. Toyota cannot manufacture this car fast enough to satisfy
demand.The combination of regenerative charging of the battery when brakes are applied gives it an advantage of extra miles from the brakes, as well as the charging of the batteries from a small engine, powered by gasoline. It has the careful quality of construction that Toyota has imbedded
in all of its models to further the impressive reputation of this outstanding vehicle. Toyota also has planned to thwart the dumb things we motorists do, from time to time, ie. locking the keys in the car,or leaving the transmission in gear when trying to start the engine,etc., and many other attractions that make it a hugely safe vehicle to drive.. Toyota has our blessings, and best wishes for the future. K.B.S.
The GM EV-1 was a total success and there are still most of the Toyota RAV-EV mini SUV’s on the road. Everyone who had a EV-1 loved it and wanted to buy it but GM took them and crushed. The cars were basically prototypes and were highly reliable.
Recharge happens at night when utilities are at half capacity and it is easier to control emissions at a single source than in a million tailpipes. Also do not forget that the rolling blackouts in California were caused by Enron calling plants and shutting them down to play with the energy market. You can put a PV array on your roof and make net more electricity than you use. There is also wind and nuclear which produce no carbon.
So many people talk about cost-benefit and roi on Battery vehicles but there are so many hidden costs to gasoline that a straight cost per gallon analysis seems disingenuous to me. Costs like environment, health, war, and the dangerous imbalance of our country’s oil usage. Add to that the fact that the goop is going to run out.
I have had allot of gas sucking cars and loved them, cars like an Alpina/Bmw 635, Alfa GTV-6 and the Jag XJ6 I am driving. I just got a Porsche 914 and I am putting together a 100% battery vehicle right now. I feel that the plug in Hybrid is a crutch that is really not necessary. For most people the gas in that tank will turn bad before they use it.
To me 100% EV is the future and there are already cars that go 250-300 miles on a charge and this is only the beginning of the era.
— Robert HoullahanProf. Griff:
— Danny LThe reason the cars aren’t here now is that the technology isn’t here now. They haven’t been able to find an acceptable compromise between charge capacity and battery life. The reason the modifying a Prius to be a plug-in voids the warranty is that the battery life is severely decreased by running a wider charge and discharge cycle than the Prius ships with. They’re working on it, but it’s not ready for primetime.
We constantly hear how GREEN electric cars are. Where does the electricity come from - coal fired generating plants, nuclear plants? How green are electric cars?
— RichardI am a big fan of battery/electric vehicles and hybrids. I own a Prius and absolutely love it.
I would think hybrid would be popular and practical until we perfect the battery technology where by a single charge can take you farther than what is possible now. I envision battery stations similar to gas stations where you can drive in, exchange your discharged battery for a fully charged one and be on your way in minutes.
We obviously need a good clean source of electricity plus reliable infrastructure to set up battery stations or something similar so that owners of battery/electric vehicles doesn’t have to worry about getting stranded during long trips. Last but not the least, all the damaged/useless batteries should be properly disposed off or recycled.
— ArunRichard,
Electric cars are the greenest you can get with the current technology.
First of all, electric engines are much more efficient in comparison to internal combustion engines. Electric engines’ efficiency oscillates around 90 percent, and ICE only around 25 - 30 percent. This is so because ICEs lose so much energy due to friction and unncecessary heat generation (that is why ICE cars require complex cooling systems).
Secondly, electric energy generating is very centralized. It is much easier to control emissions from one coal-fired plant (by placing filters on smokestacks) rather than controlling millions of ICEs’ tailpipes on the road. As technology progresses electric energy generating will only become cleaner by switching to renewables (wind, solar, geothermal, biofuels) and even better coal-fired technologies. These technologies are really taking off these days, and will surely contribute to making the planet a better place to live.
To make the argument short, taking all variables into consideration, EVs are much, much greener than the greenest ICE cars. I would say about 10 times greener in terms of CO2 emissions, and naturally they would not require any gasoline to be imported from all the evil petrodictators around the world at all.
— ArtWhy did Volvo put zero effort into designing the ergonomics of the recharging system?
Why do I look at that plug coming out of the front and think:
1) My knees will be bruised from constantly getting down to plug this in…
2) At some point, my back’s going out while I’m plugging this in…
3) How will i clear away the bugs/ice/snow that can often accumulate in the nether-regions of my bumper to get to the plug..?
4) If I forget to unplug it and drive away, how much damage do i cause to the car and whatever it was plugged into…?
Why not put the plug portion on the front next to the driver’s side mirror? - that way, it will be more ergonomic and the driver will see it to unplug it before driving away….
This design (and Volvo’s certainly not alone in this) looks like it was slapped together as an afterthought - makes you wonder what other new features in this car are an after thought…
-the gas fill-up in the back looks much more convenient and ergonomically friendly - are they intentionally trying to make the electric car uncomfortable??
— Hayden SmithGreat for Volvo. Volvo is slowly developing ”Hybrid” or kind. These type cars are just a start for the future. It’s not going to happen overnight and Volvo will make it right before it’s put in production.
— PAUL HEISERGM reports an electric car that gets 230 mpg but if you use the electric on highway you may want to be prepared not to go too far cause it wil loose a lot of juice…
We’re on our way to green but at the same time researching to get it right
Hats off to Volvo! They could learn alot by looking at the “field test” that MINI is doing with their 500 all-electric MINI Coopers, currently in use. Hopefully they can avoid some of the blunders that MINI has run into…
— PaulHybrid cars DO NOT NEED BATTERIES , they need capacitors to power them up to freeway speed , a small engine of less than 500 cc producing 50 hp powering a 144 VDC gen-set to keep the car going at highway speed of 70 mph. The gen-set produces 144 vdc with a pancake PM generator the drive motor (s) are Series brushless 144 VDC . The car can be front wheel drive or rear wheel drive or all wheel drive. The single battery should be a Nickel Iron (Edison Cell) type which would outlast the car and can withstand an over charge easily . It also is impervious to cold and heat and cheap to make and non toxic. Put the power in the capacitors , not in the batteries . The capacitors would also last longer than the car too . Written by; Keith Tomilson Eng. Aug 13 2009
— Keith TomilsonTo #13: While I applaud your foresight regarding automotive technology, the series hybrid has been in use in diesel-electric locomotives since the 1930’s, with working concepts first appearing around 1914 and attempts dating back to 1895.
Quite frankly, I would love to see someone produce just this type of hybrid: a tiny diesel engine that runs all the time, driving a generator that directly powers the wheels. Put a capacitor in between to provide extra juice for accelleration (as in #24’s plan), and you can leave the heavy, costly, expensive battery pack at home.
— Ryan